The present invention relates to a hand-held cutting tool and more particularly pertains to a hand-held cutter with automatic blade changer.
Hand-held cutters are generally classified into two categories, namely, for stationery purposes and for industrial purposes. Hand-held cutters for stationery purposes are office or student supplies for cutting sheets of paper. The blade for such a cutter is in the form of a strip. On the surface of the blade, a plurality of evenly spaced straight grooves is cut so that after the foremost pointed end of the blade has become blunt, the blunt pointed end of the blade can be bent and broken at the foremost groove, thereby allowing continuous use of the next sharp pointed end of the blade. When the whole strip of the blade is used up, it can be replaced by a new strip. However, the process of bending, breaking and changing must be operated by hand, and if sufficient care is not taken, the user's fingers may easily be injured. Further, during the process of bending and breaking, the blunt end of the blade may spring out causing injuries. Improper disposal of the discarded blunt end of the blade may also easily cause accidents. These are particularly dangerous to school children.
Hand-held cutters for industrial purposes are used for cutting thicker and harder objects such as carpets and wallpaper. They are also used in woodworking, engraving, etc. The blades are shorter, thicker and in the form of a trapezoid. As the blades are more dangerous, the cutters are usually disposed with safety means to secure the blades in position. Nevertheless, the method of bending, breaking and continuous use of the blades cannot be applied to industrial cutters. Therefore, changing of the blades must be accomplished by hand piece by piece while the safety means makes it difficult to change the blades.
The prior art provides cutters with a plurality of blades stored inside the body of the cutters for replacement. However, this increases the size and weight of the cutters, which is not favorable to the cutters' basic characteristics of being hand-held tools. Furthermore, most of the changing of the blades is operated by hand and that is not safe enough. Although the prior art also provides cutters capable of automatic changing of blades, their construction is more complicated, and the cutters are composed of a plurality of parts and components so the costs of production are higher. The cutters are larger in size and heavier in weight, and are not convenient to use. Disposal of the blunted blades is still required to be operated by hand and it is not sufficiently safe.